BICOM

Organisers of Israel’s tent protests said that activists are to resume demonstrations this Saturday, at a press conference in Tel Aviv yesterday. They also called on Professor Manuel Trachtenberg, who heads the government appointed committee tasked with ending the crisis, to resign. Organisers said that they called for Professor Trachtenberg resignation as they do not have confidence that the committee will find solutions to the social issues facing Israel, and that it was the Knesset’s responsibility to handle the issue. Dafne Leef, a prominent organiser of the protests, said that the committee was permitted to propose only one-time amendments, such as cheap public transport for a year, which would not affect the framework of the budget, and hence could not address the problems that the protests seek to highlight. Leef also criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the way he has set up the committee. “The hastily-formed Trajtenberg Committee is the most cynical, deceptive and cruel one of all,” she said. Some elements within the protests movement disagreed with the calls for the resignation of Professor Trachtenberg. Student leaders, for instance, called for continued dialogue with the committee.

In related news, the government and the Israel Medical Association reached an agreement last night to end the doctors’ dispute, after months of strikes and sanctions have disrupted the Israel’s health care system. The deal includes a 49 percent average salary increase for hospital doctors, who will now clock in and out, and the addition of 1,000 doctors at public hospitals. The wage increase is not equal across the board; the increases are much higher for doctors in outlying areas or in specialties that are short of physicians. 

The return of doctors to work will most likely take away a significant group from the social protests that are set to continue this weekend with a large march and rally on Saturday night, as a prelude to the “march of a million” – a massive demonstration planned for the 3 September.